“Are You Hungry?”
This simple question is asked in many places and under many different circumstances. When children come home from school, the question is unnecessary — just don’t get between them and the kitchen. When visiting family members or friends arrive, we welcome them with food and drink, as though they’ve been on a long, hard trek across rugged countryside. And almost invariably, if a neighbor comes over, we offer a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade.
For most people, this hospitable gesture was learned from parents and grandparents, but cultures around the world and through the centuries have welcomed guests in much the same way. Accounts of Jesus’ ministry include references to the homes where he spent time teaching and then sharing a meal. Sitting down together at a table may seem to be a simple act, but it can also be unifying and meaningful. Here is a place of welcome, where all are included in sharing a meal and time together. Whether it’s a family dinner, a group of friends getting together, a church supper, or a meal hosted by a community organization as a fund-raiser — gathering around a table fulfills a basic human need.
The Gospels tell us of Jesus’ emphasis on caring for the poor, including it in the story of the final judgment (Matthew 5) in which Jesus said that if the hungry were fed, it was as if Christ himself had been fed. The story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Matthew 14) describes one of many times in which a huge crowd gathered to listen to Jesus. As evening drew near, the disciples wanted to send the crowds away, but Jesus took the meager amount of bread and fish available, blessed it and broke it, and everyone had plenty to eat. Lesson learned — find a way to care for all.
But, of course, Jesus’ concern doesn’t stop with growling stomachs and sickly, hungry people. Jesus uses the universal need for nourishment and frames it in spiritual terms. A soul that is starving for God’s word experiences a fierce, gnawing hunger. Nothing else can fill the emptiness of spiritual starvation. The good news is that God’s own Son has come to relieve that hunger, as in John 6:35, he says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
We are invited to seek this bread of life, to feed our souls with the assurance that God’s love and forgiveness are never-ending. There will be times when our souls feel weak and empty, desperate for nourishment. But even in the worst of times, we don’t have to wonder where to turn. There are no qualifiers to the promise: “Whoever comes to me” — not the wealthy, the famous, the talented or beautiful, but just “whoever comes” will be welcomed and fed with the bread of life.
Gathering around the Lord’s Table provides us with the meal that keeps us alive, renewing another promise: “Given for you. Shed for you.” How blessed we are to receive this gift, freely given, and shared with all.
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers